The Michaela Bancroft Mysteries 1-3 (52 page)

"Do you want to elaborate?" Joe asked.

The man glanced around nervously. "I heard
that some dudes took him down to Mexico and sort of…dumped him."

"Sort of dumped him. I don't know what that
means."

"You know, I think they hurt him pretty bad
like."

"You know who these guys were?"

He shook his head. "No, sir. Don't
know."

"I don't believe you."

The man's eyes widened more. Michaela shifted
uncomfortably in her seat. She hadn't witnessed Joe playing the heavy before,
and it made her nervous, but she trusted that he knew what he was doing.

"I swear. That's all I heard."

"Right. Let's try something different. Where
did you hear this—or wait, who did you hear it from?"

"Some guy. I don't know him. Swear I don't.
Look, I'll tell you what I know, okay, but don't hurt me."

"I wasn't planning on hurting you, but I got
a lot of cousins."

"That's true," Michaela said before she
could catch herself, then decided to sink back into the booth as Joe glared at
her.

"I get the point," the old man said. "There's
this place up in the hills here. You go up a few miles. Street is called Vista
Cielo, go right. It's the only way you can go or you take a trip into the
drink."

"I got that," Joey replied. "Go on.
What's this place?"

The man lowered his voice. "It's a barn, a
place where…things go on."

"What kind of things? I'm losing my
patience."

The man cleared his throat. "Cockfighting. They
got cockfights up there."

Michaela gasped. "What? Roosters? There are
people who really do that?"

The man nodded, his craggy lips formed in a slight
smile. She wanted to reach across and wring his scumbag neck. So much for the
medicine man impression.

"That's sick."

Joe shot her a look that told her to shut up, and
she figured that was probably a good idea right about then. What she wanted to
do was
throw
up. The thought of that kind of cruelty nauseated her.

"Go on. Tell me where this place is and who
you talked to."

The man finished the directions. "But, like I
said, I don't know the guy. Some Mexican dude. There was a lot of tequila going
around. Lots of people there, and I really don't know him."

"What exactly did he say?"

"I ain't so sure what he said, but know it
was sumthin' like Bobby Pratt got dropped off outside of TJ and he wasn't
coming back."

Now Michaela was sure she'd vomit.

Joey grabbed her hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" she asked as they
exited the bar, leaving the man sitting there in shock.

"We're going to the cockfights, babe. We are
gonna get some answers about what happened to your friend's brother. Cause that
guy knows more than he's telling us."

"How do you know he's hiding something?"

He rolled his eyes at her.

"Dumb question?"

"Yeah. Wish I had a cousin close by."

"You don't?"

"Closest one is in Venice Beach. Might have
him send someone out to have a talk with the geezer. But something tells me
he'll be long gone the minute he sees us pull out of here. I would have shaped
him up if I had it in me. But I don't believe in violence."

Michaela started to laugh.

"I don't, but even more than that, I can't
stand when someone hurts an animal. I don't care if it's just a rooster. That's
plain wrong."

She patted his shoulder. "And, that's exactly
why we're friends."

"Let's go see if we can save some
roosters."

"Let's," she replied.

"I LIKED THE TOUGH GUY ACT IN THERE,"
MICHAELA remarked on the way to the rooster ranch or whatever the place they
were headed was called.

Joey blushed. He definitely was a good guy,
connected cousins notwithstanding. And, as far as she knew they weren't really
connected
,
they just knew a lot of people. "Yeah, well."

She scowled. "What kind of person operates a
cockfighting ring?"

"That's no person. It's savage. That's what
it is. Man, I hate to see anyone hurtin' animals. Since having Gen, I guess I
have softened a bit. And you know she loves animals, and I love watching her
with them. Hey, did you call that gal yet at the autism center?"

"I've had a lot on my plate this week. You
know that. And honestly, I still don't know that I'm the right person for the
job. I appreciate your faith in me, but I'm so afraid I might damage one of the
kids."

"Bullshit. You're afraid of how much you'll
grow."

She was taken back by his words. "What do you
mean by that?"

"Mickey, we've always been honest with each
other. I like you. You're a good woman. But since your ex-husband made off with
the rodeo queen and you weren't able to have a baby, you've been living
half-assed. I know it's been a rough few years. I do. But the Michaela I
remember growing up with was balls out. Pardon my mouth, but it's the truth.
And lately, I've watched you let life kind of go on automatic. Start living
again. Try this. You can do it. Gen loves you and the horses are good for her.
They'll be good for other kids, too."

"Talk about not holding back." She
looked out the window. Was he right? Had she been in auto-pilot mode? She
didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Since you know how to lay down the
perfect guilt trip, I suppose I could give it a try. Maybe it is time to
grow
,
as you put it. Time to live."

"Damn straight. Hey, here's our turn."

The place was hard to find after they made the
initial turn, because the road they were traveling up wound in and around with
various dirt road offshoots. She wasn't sure they were even on the right road,
but Joe seemed certain. Michaela started to think that the old man back at the
bar had led them on a wild goose chase. Then again, he did seem to know exactly
who Joey's "cousins," were, and he'd either have to be stupid or
ballsy to lie.

"There it is." Joe pointed out a
dilapidated house, and off to the right of it a large, but mostly rotted-out
barn.

"You sure?" Michaela asked.

He nodded. "I'm sure."

They drove on past and parked. "We'll walk
down and see what we can find out." It didn't look like anyone was there.
No lights. No cars that she could see. Nothing. But as they neared, Joey led
them off the road. "We'll go in this way."

She wanted to laugh seeing Joe all Ramboed out, as
he'd even seemed dressed for the occasion in a pair of combat boots, black
T-shirt, and army pants, but she knew that they could be in real danger. Maybe
she should pretend that she was a secret agent spy. One who was going to rescue
a bunch of roosters.

They came up behind the house. As they did,
Michaela squinted her eyes to see because of all the trees, which thankfully
shadowed their movements and much of the property. "Get down," Joey
said. "There's a car in the drive."

"There is?"

"Yup. Nice one, too. Lexus, I think."

"Lexus?" It was getting weirder. What
kind of freakazoid drove a Lexus and ran a cockfighting operation?

"Let's go over to the barn."

They rounded the back side and went in through an
area that had rotted out.

"Oh no," Michaela said, looking around.
Feathers were strewn everywhere and several crates were crammed full of the
poor roosters.

"Assholes," Joey muttered.

They started toward the cages when they heard
voices.

"Get down, Mick. They're coming in
here." Joe took her hand and they hid behind some crates. He held a finger
to his lips. She rolled her eyes at him. She wasn't so stupid as to alert
whoever it was coming into the barn.

Through the dim light, she could barely make out
two figures. "I don't like it, man. We ain't been paid for taking care of
jack. You know that job wasn't easy. You need to go and see the boss man this
time. You got more pull than I do with him," one of the men said in
Spanish. She thought that she recognized the accented voice—Juan Perez?

Joe looked at her and shrugged. He obviously
didn't understand Spanish. She was thankful that she'd picked it up so easily
as a kid.

"You know, you think I got a better
connection with him, but I can't make him pay me, or you. He knows he got us,
man. We the ones doing the dirty work. And what about your deal you got us into
with
pinche vato
Benz." It was Enrique Perez. Michaela was shocked.
Wasn't he supposed to be the good brother? Hugh had told her of his doubts
about Juan but praised Enrique. Why would a jockey of Enrique's stature go and
get involved in something so seedy?

"He's good for the
dinero
. He don'
want no trouble. He got a lot to lose, man. I not worried 'bout him. He easy,
we give him drugs, he pays us, and that's it. He don't want me to beat his ass
and he don't want me to go tell the news he really a loser druggie. No man,
he's no big deal. What I don't like is the boss is loaded and we been doin' a
lot of bad shit, you know, for him, and he don' give us nuthin' yet."

"He'll pay. He gonna pay us, bro. I know the
man real good. He good to me and the money is on the way. He promise me,"
Enrique said.

Michaela squinted to get a better view. Juan went
over to one of the cages and took out a rooster. "You know what's gonna
happen if we don't get paid. You know what, lil' bro. I gonna be real mad and
the shit will fly. I tell everyone it was you who did that guy in."

"What?"

"Yeah. You better take care of it, or
else."

Joe covered Michaela's eyes as she heard a loud
crack. Her stomach flipped. The men left the barn a minute later, still
arguing. They heard the sound of an engine, and figured they were leaving.

"You didn't want to see that," Joe said
as they stood up.

"Right." Michaela glanced at the dead
rooster and thought that she and Joe just might have stumbled onto the largest
piece in this mystery yet. Her gut told her that not only was Benz more of a
lowlife than she'd figured, but that Juan and Enrique Perez had something to do
with Bob's disappearance and Audrey's murder. However, they obviously weren't
the only ones involved. The sick feeling in her stomach worsened, as she had to
consider that the boss they were referring to was none other than Hugh Bowen.

"MICK, THOSE ARE NOT GOOD GUYS BACK
THERE," Joe said after she told him what the Perez brothers had discussed.
They were making it back to the highway, winding down along the coastline.
"So, you know them?"

"Sort of. I've met them." She explained
to Joe how Enrique was Hugh's jockey and Juan, his brother, worked around the
ranch.

He shook his head. "You gotta tell Hugh Bowen
about this."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"They were rambling on about a boss man. It
just might be that the boss man…is Hugh. I hate to think it, but it adds up.
What doesn't add up is his sincerity over being in love with Audrey. I really
believed that he loved her. I can't imagine why he would kill her. It makes no
sense."

Joe shrugged. "None of this is making sense.
The only thing that does is you heading back to Indio with me now, and forgettin'
this whole mess."

"Can't do that. We're close. I can feel it.
Maybe it is Hugh who caused Bob's disappearance and killed Audrey. I just don't
know anymore. I have no clue what to think. But those two bastards back there
do
know who it is, or at the very least they're up to no good, and I suspect that
it all ties in to what happened to Audrey. And Benz? He might be a part of this
after all."

Joe asked her about Steve Benz and how he played
into everything. She shared her thoughts on him and what a creep he was, how he
also connected to Olivia, Callahan, and Bridgette, not to mention the weirdo
Friedman. There were too many paths she could wind her mind down, and she had
no clue which one to take.

Joe's cell rang. "Hang on. Yep."
Michaela could hear the high pitch of a frantic woman on the other end.
"Now calm down, Marianne. It's okay." He held the phone away from his
ear.

"It's
not
okay!" Marianne yelled.
"Get your ass back here now before we have a lawsuit on our hands."

"You gonna have to take it down a notch, hon,
and explain to me what this is all about." The shrillness in Marianne's
voice did not subside, although Michaela couldn't make out what she was saying.
"Uh-huh," Joe said. "Dammit! What in the hell! That's it. He's
grounded forever. Tell him that. I'm in L.A. No, I can't get back right now! I
told you I was gonna be gone all day, that I had business in the city to take
care of. No I didn't mean Riverside. C'mon, honey. Can't you take care of this?
Marianne?" More yelling from the other end. "Okay, okay. I'll be
there as soon as I can. Tell them four o'clock. Now honey, calm down, please.
It don't do any good to get so upset." He shut off his phone. "Little
shit!"

Michaela cringed. "Do I dare ask?"

He sighed. "Little Joe has a bit of a temper
and if someone looks at him cross-eyed he takes it upon himself to kick the
crap out of that kid. I've tried everything from taking away the PlayStation to
making him clean the toilets. Don't know what to do."

"I don't like the sound of this."

"Today, he went too far, broke a kid's nose
on the playground. The parents are threatening a lawsuit, and the principal
wants all the parents in his office as soon as possible."

"Guess we'd better head back, huh."

Joe nodded and grew silent for a minute. "No.
Take me to my cousin's place down in Venice. It's not that far. I can borrow
one of his cars. Won't be a problem. I know you want to go and handle a few
more things. I shouldn't let you. But my gut tells me that as soon as you took
me back home, you'd be back here to see what more you can find out."